Thompson Rivers University bans cash tuition payments

The decision stems from the province’s money-laundering probe

Thompson Rivers University is no longer accepting cash for tuition payments following a government report identifying B.C.’s post-secondary institutions as being vulnerable to money laundering.

This past spring, the province asked all post-secondary schools to prohibit accepting large cash payments from students and ensure their financial policies prohibit such actions. Those without a cash acceptance policy were asked to draft one.

TRU vice-president of administration and finance Matt Milovick told KTW via email the university has no reason to believe its cash acceptance policies have been taken advantage of for the purposes of laundering money, but added the school is making the change in order to minimize the potential risk.

While the university will no longer accept cash for tuition, it will accept cash for other transactions, including application fees, registration deposits, parking fees and library fines.

The maximum cash payment TRU will accept is $1,000 per day.

The university informed the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training of these changes at the end of June.

Former senior RCMP officer Peter German’s second report to government on money laundering in B.C. identified alleged reports of the activity in the province’s post-secondary system.

According to Attorney General David Eby, German advised that people are paying thousands of dollars in suspicious cash for multiple semesters in advance and then seeking refunds by cheque.

“Our post-secondary institutions must not be used to launder money and we are asking them to review their policies to put a stop to it,” Eby said.